grandstanding on race and milwaukee

Grandstanding On Race And Milwaukee

There are opinion-makers at various levels out there having a field

day with some serious central city issues in Milwaukee.

Theirs are not the words of good will. They are not altruistic, or

offering thoughtful solutions to some of the fundamental issues

roiling Milwaukee - - poverty and generations'-long racial

discrimination in the region, to name two.

Instead, they are edgy, self-centered voices that are turning up the

heat - - naively or deliberately - - while offering nothing

constructive.

Ald. Michael McGee has become one of their major targets. Blame McGee

for being a fool if he is guilty - - something the courts will decide,

not bloggers or squawkers or politicians with time on their hands or

agendas to serve.

Ald. McGee is in the justice system. Let it play out.

What's the value of the breathless, minute-by-minute 'coverage' on the

Internet by bloggers like Patrick (Badger Blogger) essentially

instant-messaging his readers with posts like this:

"Sold

by Patrick @ 6:17 pm. Filed under Home

The word is, The Alderthug, Michael McGee/Jackson Jr. has sold his

home on East Burleigh St.

No details yet. "

Or take Mark Belling, the right-wing AM radio talk show host. In

addition to his routine McGee-bashing, he used a recent column slot in

The Waukesha Freeman, aimed at a white suburban audience, to call

McGee a "thug" and a "goon," and then trashed an entire community and

their many leaders this way:

'So long as the predominantly black residents of the inner city keep

choosing thugs like Michael McGee Jr. as their "leaders," there is no

reason to believe the social pathologies that have turned the area

into a ghetto of crime will disappear."

The ugly and violent aftermath of an otherwise peaceful Juneteenth Day

celebration offers an opportunity to come forward with solutions.

Focus on that.

Are these commentators really interested in making Milwaukee a better

city? Are they genuinely interested in guaranteeing a region and state

that provides opportunities for everyone - - or are they having too

much fun teeing up McGee, or foaming about race?

Talk is cheap. Rhetoric is free.

Solutions, hard work on the streets, tough decision-making among

office-holders. That takes serious time, effort, and will by serious

people.

It's time to separate the winners from the whiners. The activists from